You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, my lurker friend!

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, an unparalleled Subaru community full of the greatest Subaru gurus and modders on the planet! We offer technical information and discussion about all things Subaru, the best and most popular all wheel drive vehicles ever created.

We offer all this information for free to everyone, even lurkers like you! All we ask in return is that you sign up and give back some of what you get out - without our awesome registered users none of this would be possible! Plus, you get way more great stuff as a member! Lurk to lose, participate to WIN*!

Say hello and join the conversation

Subscribe to topics and forums to get automatic updates

Get your own profile and make new friends

Classifieds with all sorts of Subaru goodies

Photo hosting in our gallery

Meet other cool people with cool cars

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Make your life more fulfilling and join today! You and your Subaru won't regret it, we guarantee** it.

* The joy of participation and being generally awesome constitutes winning** Not an actual guarantee, but seriously, you probably won't regret it!

Did you make the side decals? looks good. The gen 2 cars with single headlamps look better than the quad set-ups, in my opinion. Good score on the raised white letter 13 inch tires, hard to find these days.

Did you make the side decals? looks good. The gen 2 cars with single headlamps look better than the quad set-ups, in my opinion. Good score on the raised white letter 13 inch tires, hard to find these days.

The stripes were made from an old school aftermarket set. Pooparu made them for me. I have only ever seen two other old subies with these decals. One was the mountain grizzly wagon that mcbrat had, then a very rusty hatch that sat in a drive way near my childhood home. I always thought it was pretty sweet.

I agree on the single headlight look. The quad set ups are kinda goofy.

As for the rwl 13s, I painted them with a white paint marker. They hold quite well as long as I stay off the dunes. The sand rubs the paint off

My current plans are to keep pimpin' around with it. I have a 4 speed dual range trans that I want to swap in place of the leaky single range. I'm also waiting on funds to do the third light grill set up. I want to go five lug soon but I'm still waiting to hear from a machinist friend who thinks he can make me some front hub adapters.

All of those plans are on hold until I find another dd for winter. I couldn't stand rusting this thing out more than it is. Plus having an extra car would help so I could have it not running for more than a weekend. I am hoping to get my hands on a loyale sedan that has a bad engine, but still havn't heard from the owner.

Is that a Silver Toyota Hi-Ace in one of your pictures? Sooo jealous, most of ours rotted away.

Sorta, Its a base model `87 Toyota VanWagon. It was hands down my favorite vehicle I have ever owned. I have gone everywhere in that van. I had a lot of high highs and low lows in there. I actually wound up living in it for 9 months when I was on rough times. Hauled a lot of equipment to a ton of shows, even made it down to Chicago, and as far as the Keewenaw for some good old U.P. partying. I had to eventually give it up due to lack of space and to help fund my DL project, but I'll never take for granted all it gave me. It was more than just an old van to me.

I know this is a Subaru forum, but I'll share a couple pics for anyone who is interested. These vans don't get the same respect our old Subies do.

Loaded up for some paddle boarding one cold spring morning

I also made it down some dirt roads today with the Desert Fox, I swear this car wishes it would grow up to be a WRX.

So I have to do a RF wheel bearing. It's making some noise now, and I can't stand driving it like that. Also, the LF inner axle boot exploded apperantly.

Who has the most economical wheel bearings for this thing? Honestly, I am broke as a joke these days, so who is going to be cheapest? I normally am concerned mainly with quality, but I gotta cheap out this time because of some bills that are going to be due.

I had a 4wd 5spd Dual Range transfer case one of those vans for a while. Dumbest move I ever made was selling it. It was great off road but had a pucker factor because it felt so tipsy and you were sitting on the front wheels.
Its an absolute shame that we can't get cab forward vans in the USA anymore. Easy to park, easy to drive but also first on the "scene" in a car accident. To me, that is a non issue-just drive defensive with oncoming traffic on 2 lane roads and don't rear end anybody. Oh well.

I sold it to a guy that HOUNDED me for months to sell it and I got a lot of cash for it.

Shawn, I almost picked up a 4x4 panel van at the same time as I got the DL, but didn't want to take on two projects at once. I really do love these vans, I just wish they were a little bit easier to service. I see my old one cruising around town now and again, but the current owners peeled all the good stickers off it and replaced it with hippie frogs. The interior was in great shape, but they've had the rear seats folded flat and have been hauling scrap metal on them. It's a shame.

On another note, several of my best friends play in a punk band and had their tape release show tonight. I have been waiting for more than a month now to see it. My roommate did the layout for the insert that came with it. Nobody would let me see it until today and now I know why. I really didn't know what to say, other than I was pretty excited to see The Desert Fox and I were on the cover! I have the best friends a guy could ask for

It really sucks that I had to go and rip the tape deck out of the fox last weekend too. It was starting to act like it wanted to eat tapes, and it was only hooked to one speaker. I vowed long ago that I would never have a car without a tape deck because cd players seem to turn up missing a lot in this town.

I really want to find a suitable replacement. Were these cars offered with a tape deck from the factory? If so, I need one now.

If you ever upgrade, I call dibs. Haha. Does it work? How is the sound? Several of my ea82s had decent sound quality with the stock set up. I listen to a good amount of punk/hardcore, but when I'm driving it's usually more mellow stuff. I don't really have the need for anything to fancy or modern.

So the Desert Fox has been parked for a while now. It needs some more work, and instead of putting it back together with cheap parts, I am going to save up and do some real upgrades. When I get back from tour in Sept. I will be cranking on it again. I picked up a Dodge K car to drive through our salty winters so the fox can stay as rust free as possible for the time being.